No I'm not referring to the Johnny Depp variety
Recently I was thrust ever so rudely into the world of plagarism and intellectual property theft. I say rudely because I've always rather skated under the radar of this person - being neither loved nor hated. As such, as NOT being the tallest nail, I wasn't hit.
Yes I still should've said something before - called him out on his behavior - but I didn't and for that I feel 9 shades of a coward.
In essence what happened was this: I was directed to view a slideshow titled:
"MDRF from my eyes (2000 - 2006)"
You would assume that that meant the pictures were either *of* or *by* the slideshow creator. Sadly that wasn't the case. There were a number of fairly good photos that were neither - they were just blatantly used. In fact an entire series were mine. His excuse? They 'somehow' ended up in his archives. Well since I had not shared them with the group he's owner/moderator of and since he's not on my Live Journal friends list, he had to go hunting for them. Where? who knows. It really doesn't matter. I am not the only one either - a lovely friend of mine had one of her photos used as well. THEN the entire slideshow/video montage was copyrighted to his name at the end.
Let me tell you this leaves a horrible taste in your mouth. At one point I called this person friend.
At every turn we gave opportunity for apology. At every turn our comments were deleted and no apology - nor credit - given. During this time another friend requested images of her found on this slideshow/video montage be removed. I often photograph people and it's always been my way to allow them to have total access to any photographs they're in. If they don't want it shown, it is not. I give them the digital copy and then delete it from my laptop. Simple. Easy. Clean. When this lady requested her images removed, her comments were deleted.
His ultimate response was another entry with an avatar of someone flipping off and the letters BFD below. The test of the entry reads thus:
**********
Pyrate at Large (pyrateatlarge) wrote,
@ 2007-08-10 19:58:00
Current location: in the lair
Current mood: laughing and pointing
Current music: Opportunity - Pet Shop Boys
Entry tags: get a life
rolling eyes at juveniles (and so-called adults who whine)
If you feel so strongly. . . hire a lawyer! ROFLMAO
*************
As of this writing, the video was in incarnation #3. The photos in question that were not his work were removed. The photos that the person requested removed still remain.
All of this could have been avoided so very easily had this person not bullied his way through a good portion of his existance taking what he wanted without thought to others. Yes that is a fine definition of a bully and I've found that while I don't suffer fools gladly, I will NOT suffer a bully in my presence.
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